Your Story: Erika Dowdell

July 27, 2009

“think of the staff as family and the library as an extended home”

Growing up a 10-minute walk from Powell branch, Erika Dowdell spent summers there. She came to think of the staff as family and the library as an extended home. “My brothers and sisters and I would walk or ride bikes here all the time. We’d play board games or just read for hours. I did all the programs they had —tye-dye shirt making and cooking,” Erica says. “I loved it so much I’d ask if I could help. Judy Powell taught me how to organize books and put them on the shelves. She’d bake cookies and bring them in. I loved it here.”

Erika’s early library memories made such an impression that when she started college at KVCC, she applied to the Library for a part-time job. “I talked to Judy. She said, ‘go ahead and apply because there was an opening.’ Next thing I knew, I got the job!”